August 31, 2009 by Bill.

Let me get this out right away: I’m not a game player. I own a Wii, but seldom play it. I bought a copy of “Left for Dead”–a popular zombie game–for my PC, but never play it. I own a Nintendo DS and every once in awhile play a card game called “Three Peaks” that I enjoy, but I don’t overdo it, with the exception of when we’re laying on a beach in Cancun and the only thing I’ve got to do is drink, sleep and play Nintendo DS. Then I overdo it. I also have a couple of games on my Apple Touch, but I only play my Mahjong game, and the last time I played that was when we were on a tour bus driving through the hillsides of France.

That said, I do believe in the power of teaching kids how to program games because I believe there is real power in connecting with students at their level, helping them understand the incredible effort game companies go to just to bring entertainment to people.

This is my third year teaching a game programming class. I’ll be the first to admit I’ve stumbled around with this topic quite a bit. I intuitively knew some things: that the C++ programming language, for example, is required as the language for most commercial games. (Oh sure, there are indies, and indie languages and game engines, but the real truth is that C++ is still the prevalent language within game programming companies.)  I also know that you have to have graphics for games, but at first didn’t have much of an idea about how to get those graphics into the computer. I also knew that story was important (though lots of students will argue with you about that). And artwork, and music. Game programming is an incredibly rotund subject.

So here’s the thing: If you’re teaching game programming to kiddos, you have to teach a variety of subjects. I’ve come to realize these subjects have a very definite order: 1) Story, 2) Art, 3) Code, and 4) Music. So if you’re teaching game programming, you’re not only teaching students how to write C++, C#, Java or ActionScript 3 code, you’re also teaching them about developing stories, drawing, creating lifelike characters (2D or 3D), and other artwork (such as backgrounds, buildings, textures, sprites and spritesheets, etc.) and you’re working with music. Not to mention the soft skills like teambuilding, conflict-negotiation, and strategizing.

On top of that, you have to teach a fair amount of mathematics (algebra and trigonometry) and physics in the process, else budding game programmers won’t create realistic games.

If you’re teaching game programming, you’re practically teaching an entire school’s curriculum all in one classroom. Throw in some history, civics and current events, and maybe a little psychology and you’re covering the entire gamut. I would argue that many kids learn more about history through “Age of Empires” than their school history classes.

Here’s an even more amazing thing: I truly believe that if we teach more and more kids how to write games, and we show them how to bundle work products in those games, we can use games to solve some of the world’s weightiest problems.

What do I mean by that? Well, think about the SETI screensaver. The nutlogs at SETI, ever vigilant in scanning the universe for signals that indicate the presence of human life, use an ordinary screensaver to process data they’ve received from their telescopes. Anyone who downloads the SETI @ Home screensaver allows SETI to use their computer’s spare PC cycles to process data, assisting in the search for ETs.

Now that same kind of idea, put on steroids, could be used to find cures for cancer, AIDS, run computer models for weather and other high-end simulations, and yes, even work on data for space projects, among myriad other things. All while people think they’re playing a game. Clever game developers might even find a way for players’ avatars to participate in the process somewhat. An avatar might not look through a microscope and recognize a virulent disease, but the avatar might run a message, or push a button or perform some other task for researchers.

Think it can’t be done? Check out Free Rice. This game allows you to garner food for impoverished people in 3rd world nations, while simultaneously helping you with your vocabulary. It’s a crisp, robust, ingenious game that partners gamers, non-profits and hungry people.

So, it turns out that game programming is a really great thing to be teaching kiddos. They learn a ton of great stuff all wrapped up in a package they love. And once they get good at it, they might come together to create uber Free Rice games and involve Joe and Jenny Six-Pack in helping us work on problems–even though Joe and Jenny think they’re relaxing and enjoying playing a game.

Here’s the thing though: Teachers have to go through a serious paradigm shift if they’re going to teach all of the elements involved in a complex subject like game programming. It’s not just code, not just art, not just story: It’s bigger than a breadbox, and requires teachers to grow their own capabilities. I know I had to, and I’m still going through the growing pains. I’m just now using a set of books I think are really solid, and I know I’ve got a long, long way to go. But I also know I’ve got a GREAT bunch of kids who come to class every day, usually work through their break on their tasks, and happily read technical material and learn technical math in doing so. Education doesn’t get much better than that!

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August 16, 2009 by Bill.

I have two daughters, one 29, the other 31. Neither of them have medical insurance. When they get sick, they first try to tough it out, then they find a healthcare provider that will take them in without insurance, and bill them or take a credit card in payment. They ask for generic prescriptions, and fill them at the cheapest place in town, typically Walgreens.

Ditto for the dentist.

As an aside: I find it interesting that in this whole Democratic health care debate, none of the Senators, Congresspersons, or even POTUS can find time to talk about free dental care for all. Guess that’s not as important, though I can tell you in the majority of cases, my daughters’ health emergencies have been dental in nature, and I’ve covered the bill.

Thank God they haven’t had something dire that required more attention than an Amoxicillin prescription or an extraction.

My daughters are a part of those 48 million who don’t have medical insurance who choose not to purchase it. So naturally, I like the idea of my daughters being able to obtain medical insurance.

I also support the idea of health care for all including immigrants (legal and illegal). Before you get hot under the collar about the illegals consider: They currently go to an ER where they must be treated. I think it would be a whole lot better from a cost perspective if they could go to a regular doctor to get treatment for their sinus infections and pregnancies, don’t you?

What I don’t support is the idea of the Federal government managing a national health care system.

Why? Well, because frankly, the Federal government can’t manage its way out of a paper bag. Can you name a Federal project that was not cost-overrun, did not miss its deadlines, and/or was not laden with pork that added things (at great cost) that should never have been added?

That’s what I thought. You can’t. I can’t. In the 35 years I’ve been watching the leaders in the Federal government, I can’t really point to any one significant project or endeavor that I thought was pulled off with great project management skills, managed well from top to bottom, ended up with the desired result, was pleasing to most people, and actually cut costs.

Yeah, yeah, there are probably some out there. No doubt. But I’m talking about the billion-dollar efforts that politicians paint with grandiose pie-in-the-sky colors and brushes.

Military? Forget it.

Nasa? No hope.

Education? Uh-uh.

Stimulus plan? Really? You’ve got to be kidding.

“Cash for Clunkers” program? A farce. A joke.

No, no. The Federal government should not be trusted with something as precious as our health.

Call me crazy, but I just don’t think the government has innovated anything - well, OK, maybe with the exception of attaching pork projects to bills.

I think health care–including medical research–should stay within the domain of the private sector.

I once worked for a company that developed 3D cardiac ultrasound software which was then bundled in with HP untra-sound scanners. For a lot of reasons, the company went out of business - but I think the company’s executives would admit that the government was a big part of the problem, not the solution.

I’m blessed. My employer provides medical insurance for my wife and I. In fact we have an ala carte plan, with a couple of different providers. I chose Kaiser Permanente (KP).

Let me tell you what I think of this company: As far as I can tell, KP is doing a great job managing their money, and their patients. Oh sure, there are people that will grouse about KP’s care. But let me be honest: I have had a couple of different (relatively minor) surgical procedures, the normal array of sinus infections and flu, and yearly physicals. KP’s doctors have been good about talking with me (not to me), and working with me to solve any health issues that have arisen. They’re responsive and they get the job done. Their equipment is state of the art, their facilities are all over Denver, and, near as I can tell, they’re always fully staffed.

POTUS, in his “town hall” meeting in Belgrade, MT on the 13th said that we should consider an insurance company that’s a great player–one who is working well with the Feds in laying out what the new health care legislation should look like: Aetna.

OK. But Aetna doesn’t run clinics or hospitals like KP, do they? They’re just an insurance company.

Several politicians have advised that we take a look at Cleveland care, because it’s a great example of how well public sector entities can run healthcare. Great, but that’s a couple orders of magnitude example when we’re talking about the Feds running healthcare for millions versus a city for 10s of thousands, isn’t it?

Several people have cited Mitt Romney’s Massacheusetts universal coverage plan, including Mitt himself. However, this  healthcare plan is a disaster. It’s in the red, and stakeholders are panicked about how to fund it going forward.

Lots of people have talked about the danger of a nationalized health care plan for seniors. There has been talk of euthanasia options over clinical treatments, “counseling” the elderly (”You’ve had a good run grandma. Now it’s time to go.) and even letting the elderly suffer without treatment to avoid unnecessary treatment costs. The Rahm brothers like the idea of “life points”–the younger you are, the more points you get. The older you get, well, you do the math.

The Central Barack Station (CBS) cited a CBS/New York Times poll that says this is absolutely not the case. Why, the elderly will be perfectly safe under the new health care plan. In fact, life for them will be better rather than worse!

Right. The New York Times is the most liberal newspaper in the country, employing the likes of the far-left-leaning pundit Paul Krugman. Why would I believe a pollster as far left as that? It cannot be said to be accurate. It simply cannot.

The governor of Montana bragged after the Belgrade town hall that “if they’d send us the paperwork, we’d have this thing knocked out in 10 days.” Yeah, right.

If we’re going to do this thing, we have to have an honest debate, not one riddled with disenguous politicking and Pelosi name-calling. People are scared and they want answers from the Feds.

So, here’s my point: I would be more than happy to chip in an extra $100 - $500 per year in order to help fund healthcare for someone else. I realize that doesn’t sound like much, but given that we have to cover about 1/6 of the people without coverage, I think this is reasonable, and if the health care providers were willing to sit with us, we could craft a decent plan.

And, I think that companies like KP, who have experience in both the clinical and the operational elements of healthcare insurance should manage a national healthcare system. I could envision KP and similar companies working together to provide this kind of healthcare.

And what would be the Federal government’s role?

Sit back, watch, and stay out of the way!

Let Americans do what Americans do best - help other people.

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